Brewster's Brood - Pt. 36 (Patreon)

Part Thirty-six

Jenny Westinghouse – 3/11/2017 – Sunday – 6:54 pm

            Max had had a busy day, so it was going to be on them to try and keep him from getting overloaded again, and Jenny already felt like there was no chance in hell of them making it to the end of three months. Shit, they hadn’t even made it through the full list of women players yet, and Max already looked like he’d lost five pounds. He probably had lost five pounds, maybe more, although they were doing everything they possibly could to keep him hydrated.

            That had been the biggest concern Mrs. Churchill’s people had stressed in all the messages and communiques they’d sent to all participants of the Brand Game – make sure Max is always drinking water. Between his body sweating all the time, and its need to produce as much semen as it could to refill its constantly emptying supply, the man needed to basically be drinking two gallons of water a day, maybe even more. It felt like an insane amount of liquid to ask anyone to drink daily, but Jenny had done her fair share to make sure Max was always drinking something, if not water than at least fruit juice, hell, even soda if need be. Whatever would keep him mobile and functional.

            The strip club had been a fun endeavor and had let the four of them form a little group, an alliance that they hoped would hold for at least some of the game, the bunch of them looking after each other’s backs to get them closer to the finish line.

            Kelly had proven a surprisingly resourceful and useful ally, with a wisdom Jenny wouldn’t have expected from someone so young, but she had to guess that the wound had given the girl insight well beyond her years.

            The stripper, Vixen, had been eager to get a go on Max, but they’d collectively closed ranks, let him paw off for being exhausted, which he obviously was. The man had gotten more sex in the last week than anyone since the crazy roman emperor days, and he was still standing, so they were going to do everything they could to keep him that way, even if that meant dodging the rest of the players for a little bit to let him recover.

            The Foxtrot Group had barely had time to introduce themselves to Max, and the Golf Group would be knocking on his door soon enough. Thankfully that only left three groups more – Hotel, India, and Juliett – before the game was full, and all 101 women had access to Max, and his mind was completely and totally blown.

            That was the point that Jenny was most worried about – when they’d hit max capacity (she laughed in her mind at own little joke – Max Capacity…) and Max suddenly found it almost impossible to go anywhere or do anything without a dozen women trying to get him to fuck them. They were coming up on that part of the game pretty soon if they weren’t careful.

            Max had taken all of it in stride pretty well thus far, but when that many women started lovebombing the shit out of him all at once, nobody knew exactly how he’d manage, but they were hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

            They’d snuck Max out the back door of the O’Farrell Theater and headed for some place even less crowded, booking an Uber XL from San Francisco all the way down to Santa Cruz, a couple hour car ride, allowing them all just to chat and get to know one another without the pressure of feeling like Max needed to be fucking the whole time, because it was immediately obvious that the Uber driver was certainly not down for any of that kind of nonsense, a woman in her sixties named Maude, who didn’t seem at all impressed by having two Oscar nominated actresses in her car.

            “Santa Cruz is quite the drive,” Maude told them. “What are you folks heading down there for?”

            “Oh, just trying to get off the grid for a bit,” Kelly said with a laugh. “We feel like San Francisco’s a bit of a drag right now, so we figured we’d show our friends from out of town some of the other cities around the Bay.”

            “Not a concert or something?”

            “Is there a concert going on there tonight?”

            “Echo & The Bunnymen are playing The Catalyst tonight,” she said. “We’d be hitting Santa Cruz just a little bit before they’re supposed to go on stage.”

            “Tickets still on sale?”

            “Bless, child. The Bunnymen haven’t sold out a venue for decades. Tickets aren’t cheap, but I bet you can still get them from the door,” she told them. “Want me to drop you off there instead of the Santa Cruz Diner?”

            “Sure,” Gwen said, “let me just update it in the app.” She pulled out her Galaxy phone, tapped on her Uber app a few times and they were already rolling towards their new location. “I did a movie set in the 1980s once, and our director sent ‘mood mixes’ to help us get into character, and there was a lot of Echo & The Bunnymen on that.”

            “You’re an actress?” Maude asked her.

            “Yeah. Both me and my sister,” Gwen said. “I was in that show called ‘Escapades,’ on Netflix last year? Brook, what was the most recent film you had come out?”

            “’Aces Over Miami,’ that drug running movie I made with Michael Mann,” Brooklyn said. “It didn’t do fantastic, but I thought it was a good watch. It didn’t get the best ratings, but at least it went to theaters and didn’t go straight to streaming.”

            “Didn’t see it,” Maude said. “Didn’t even hear about it.”

            “It didn’t do that badly,” Brooklyn said a touch defensively.

            “Didn’t hear about that show you mentioned either,” Maude said, not really looking at the passengers all that much. “It anything like ‘Game of Thrones’?”

            “Not really,” Gwen said. “Not at all. “I mean, we’ve got some nudity, not anywhere near as much as they do. That’s where the similarities end, though; they’ve got dragons and shit, and we’re more about figure skating in the 1980s.”

            “There was nudity at the Ice Capades?” Maude asked, looking at Gwen for almost the first time. “I do not recall this.”

            “We’re focusing on what happened behind the scenes, not what happened on the ice,” Gwen said before she giggled. “Well, a few of the sex scenes take place on the ice, but that’s beside the point.”

            “Is it hard filming sex scenes?” Max asked her.

            “Yes and no?” Gwen sighed. “Sometimes it can be very difficult, if there’s no chemistry at all between you and your partners. And then if there’s too much chemistry, that’s its own sort of problem. That’s when people start catching feelings and then everything’s fucked. I’ve had that problem once or twice. They ended up having to cut someone after a few days of filming because he kept trying to knock on my trailer in between scenes. What an utter pain in my ass.”

            “You are pretty girl,” Maude said to her. “I am not surprised you draw boys like honey draws flies, be it work or personal time. Unlike this man you ladies bring with you. Why this man? Why do all of you dote on him? Is he rich? Is he famous? Is he someone I should know?”

            Max laughed, shaking his head. “No, not rich, not famous, not remarkable in any way whatsoever. At least not, in any way that I know about. Unless y’all have something to tell me!”

            The tension in the car was so thick it could’ve doubled as body armor.

Mrs. Churchill – 3/11/2017 – Sunday – 8:02 pm

            “Why are you panicking, Lynne?” Mrs. Churchill said with a slight smile. “It’s not like they’re driving out of state. It’s just down to Santa Cruz.”

            “Santa Cruz might as well be the fucking moon, boss!” Lynne said, frantically typing on her keyboard constantly.  “It’s two hours from Oakland! It’s outside of window! Well beyond the parameters I set for our masking program. We don’t have anything set to cover Max down there!”

            “It doesn’t matter, Lynne.”

            “What the fuck does it mean when you say ‘it doesn’t matter’ boss?” Lynne said, looking up for her typing for a moment. “I’m doing everything I can to get a temporary loop in on the region, but it’s… it’s going to be scattershot at best. It might work, but… it’s a fishing net with holes you could swim a marlin through.”

            “We don’t need perfection, Lynne. We just need it to be big enough to get most of it done. I knew that we wouldn’t hold forever, that we couldn’t keep this entirely contained. We just need to manage what we have, what we’re working with and what we’re going to do when things get hairy. This was never about having total lockdown on Max’s online presence. It was just about making sure things didn’t go too far too fast. I don’t need a complete shutdown on the guy existing – I just need to make sure we don’t get overpowered by people trying to jam up the system.”

            “We don’t have any camera feeds on him there, though,” Lynne said. “Aren’t the sponsors going—”

            “The sponsors get what we give them when it give it to them, and that’s all they get,” Mrs. Churchill said. “We made it abundantly clear when this all started that we were going to have periods like this where Max was out of pocket and we couldn’t have cameras on him. That’s all part of the experience and we knew we’d do our best with it. I just want to make sure we aren’t getting him into any trouble that we can’t get him out of, if it comes to that. The show that they’re heading to, did we check and see if it’s sold out?”

            “About fifty tickets left, boss.”

            “Well then, better buy 5 of them now and put them on Will Call for Gwen, otherwise half of the girls will get down there and buy out the show and Max won’t even be there, and wouldn’t that just be a kick in the pants,” she laughed. “But tell the girls it’s all fair in love and war, and if anyone wants to have a go at him in The Catalyst, that’s fine. They got any internal cameras we can tap into?”

            “Yeah, they’ve got a few, although the quality is for utter shit. They’re meant to be used for security purposes, not for us to piggyback onto and sell as live sex shows,” Lynne said, tapping on a different keyboard now. Mrs. Churchill had noted that Lynne never seemed to have less than three computers around her at all times, each tasked to something different.

            A minute or so later, a section of monitors on the wall that had previously been showing the lack of activity at Ironwood popped into a new location, showing a long, two story club, the main hall wide and open, with balcony wings on either side, and a low sunken area in the middle, with a raised stage up at one end of it, where there was some local band playing the end of their set, all of the main band’s gear tastefully covered in black silk blankets just behind them. “Thank you Santa Cruz!” the frontwoman shouted to a mostly apathetic crowd before they headed off stage to a modicum of applause, an effort to celebrate how much closer they were to the main act.

            On the screens, they could see roadies were coming out to handle the changeover, breaking down the opening act’s equipment as another set of roadies was working on getting the next band before Echo & The Bunnyman’s gear plugged in, tested and ready for the band to take the stage.

            Mrs. Churchill had to wonder if the bands would get at all jealous, seeing most of the female attention in the room attuned to someone other than the band or a celebrity that they all recognized immediately. Max would continue to confound a whole new group of people all over again.

            While they waited for Max and company to make their way down to Santa Cruz, Lynne was doing her best to expand her algorithm’s parameters so that if lots of pictures of Max started flooding the Internet all at once, say, because something crazy was going down at the club that involved him, it would get de-escalated and not recommended to, well, anyone.

            The key wasn’t to keep it all quiet, just to prevent inertia from carrying it up, up and away and going viral. That was all they really needed to do, and that was reasonably easy to manage. At some point, Mrs. Churchill fully expected this game to get away from her – it was a fool’s errand, expecting to keep the whole thing under wraps the entire time, but thankfully there was only one directive that they had they had to make sure was absolutely followed – Max couldn’t know about the game until after the game was done. Other than that, basically anything goes.

            Mrs. Churchill took a moment to look at the live tracker map, which showed the location of all the girls taking part in the game, and the location of Max himself, and the whole thing looked like a tornado, with the massive swarm of red dots (the girls) chasing towards the green dot (Max) as he made his way down from San Francisco to Santa Cruz.

            “Go get’em, ladies,” Mrs. Churchill said to herself.

            There were also four orange dots scattered across the map, two very close to Max’s location, one up near Ironwood Estates, and one at the hotel, getting some shuteye. They were the markers for Danny and his team, the security detail they had on Max.

            Mrs. Churchill picked up her phone and dialed her leg man. “How’re we looking, Danny?”

            “Five by five right now boss, but we’re in a bit of uncharted territory down here,” he said from the Bluetooth headset inside of his motorcycle helmet. “That’s the problem with this metropolitan area – it’s like seven or eight cities all a couple of hours away from each other. San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Fresno, shit, even Sacramento’s only a couple of hours out. We’re never going to be able to keep him entirely safe. We’ll just do our best with wherever we find him. That said, The Catalyst looks to be entirely manageable. They’re strict about not letting people sneak in to see the shows, which means we really only have to worry about the existing crowd, and since this is an unscheduled, unplanned spur-of-the-moment thing, we shouldn’t have to worry about anyone having time to pull a plan together.”

            “Just keep your eyes open, Danny,” Mrs. Churchill said. “That’s all I’m asking.”

            “Always have, always will, boss.”

            “Good man. It looks like they’re arriving in Santa Cruz now. We had a couple of tickets set aside for you at Will Call under your name, so you don’t need to worry about them selling out.”

            “Was that an issue?”

            “Not until Max decided to show up, and over half the girls in the game decided to come down and have a go at him inside of the place,” Mrs. Churchill said with a soft laugh. “But you should be fine.”

            “Christ, these bitches’ll have a go at him anywhere, anytime, anyplace, won’t they?”

            “He’s worth a hundred and fifty billion dollars, Danny…”

            “…Yeah, okay, fair point.”

Max Brewster – 3/11/2017 – Sunday – 10:06 pm

            While he’d hoped today was going to be a bit slower or more relaxed, instead Max had spent the day after work at a strip club and now was heading down to Santa Cruz to take in a concert of a band he’d liked a lot when he was younger, but hadn’t thought of in quite some time, Echo & The Bunnymen, who were best known for their 80s hit “Lips Like Sugar.”

            It had been a while since he’d been down to Santa Cruz. When he’d been a much younger man, he’d had a girlfriend who’d been a UC Santa Cruz student – theater arts major, although she never did much in the way of auditioning for things, nor did she ever seem like she really had much of an idea of what she wanted to do with her life once she did graduate. It had been a large contributing factor as to why they’d not worked out in the long run.

            There was something about the place that made him always feel younger, though. Maybe it was because Santa Cruz was a college town, the university making up a good percentage of the people who lived in or around it. It might’ve also been that the slogan of the town was “Keep Santa Cruz Weird,” with people like the Umbrella Man or the Trash Orchestra littering the streets any time, day or night.

            The Catalyst was a well-known dive bar and concert venue that housed all sorts of shows, from metal to ska to reggae to, well, whatever Buckethead was. But tonight, in keeping with the theme of 80s revival, it seemed like loads of people were dressed in their 80s gear, bright neon and pastels all over the place.

            When they entered the place, the girl at the door definitely gave Max a look, as if to say, “What the hell are you doing with all of these women clinging to you? Do they know something I don’t know?” Max wished he could tell them what the hell was going on, but he was just as much in the dark as she was.

            The place was only moderately packed, something Max found a little surprising, although he had to admit, they were basically a heritage act at this point, their most recent albums not even having made a splash on the charts.

            Max wasn’t always big on concerts, but there was a certain energy he could feel, even as the band took the stage, looking much, much older than the last time he’d seen them back in his youth. But even as the band started to get to their instruments, he could feel hands starting to run along his body, concealed by the crowd, who had rushed the stage and pressed them in as soon as the band had walked on, which meant Max couldn’t even tell whose hand was whose.

            When the band started playing, everyone in the crowd started dancing, but Max was a little surprised to find that meant all the girls were basically grinding up against him, rubbing their asses or crotches against his hips and thighs.

            Before he knew it, however, the familiar faces had been matched with just as many unfamiliar faces, women of all ages and walks of life and Max had decided that whatever was happening in his life, he was just going to roll with it, do his best to keep up and not get swept under, because fighting against the tide had gotten him nowhere.

            That was, of course, until he felt someone unbuttoning his pants.

            The woman in front of him was a statuesque blonde with a body that looked like it was born for sin, large, plump breasts beneath a tube top that was already starting to strain. She also had on a jean skirt, but it had been at least partially hiked up, and before Max knew it, he could feel the woman had fished out his cock and was rubbing it against her pussy, concealed by the crowd, as she looked back over her shoulder at him with a wry smile.

            Before he could even get a word out, Echo & The Bunnymen launched into “Lips Like Sugar” and the whole room cheered even as the song was just getting started, and the woman took that moment to shove her pussy onto his cock, a low groan escaping his lips, as he felt Kelly’s lips on his ear. “Looks like you found a new bitch to bang, boss,” she whispered into his ear with a giggle. “Better make sure she knows who she’s messing with.”

            It was the sort of thing where Max felt like he should take control, but the woman clearly knew her way around this kind of thing better than he did, and before he knew it, she was twerking her pussy up and down onto his cock, making it look like her body was just grinding against his, even though he could feel her velveteen walls clenching around his shaft, his breathing growing quick and shallow. He felt like he used to be able to hold out a long time, but with all the women who’d been demonstrating all their skills on him, Max never stood a chance.

MRS. CHURCHILL'S NOTES (Cast of Characters):

The Mark (& Company)

•        Max Brewster – The Mark – 42, Caucasian, doughy, with mostly black (although with some gray) hair pulled back into a ponytail, sleeved with tats, tanned skin, brown eyes (near sighted), owner of the Constant Rotation food truck, and long lost grandson and only living relative of the late billionaire Max Brand. Seems like a nice enough guy, but a bit shy and a touch socially awkward. The more women I can get him to knock up, the more me and my team get paid. He had a restaurant go up in a fire and through a loophole, didn't get any recompense from either the building owner or the insurance company, and started the food truck as a way to get a fresh start.

•        Monty Brand (deceased) – The Bank – Died at 102 about three months ago. Established the Brand game before his death, whereas his only living relative (Max), gets his inheritance after he's spread their genetic lineage to at least 10 women, although he can't know about the game until after it's over. I feel a little sorry for Max, but he's going to be having so much casual sex that I can't muster up too much sympathy for him. Monty wanted to make sure that both Max sowed his wild oats and also punished him for waiting so long to do so. Monty was a tough old bastard, but he's leaving Max over a hundred billion dollars, so I guess he's entitled to be.

•        Frankie Yen – The Inside Man – 38, Asian American, Max's best friend, and his coworker at the Constant Rotation truck. Frankie also owns the house where Max lives in an apartment above the garage. Frankie's been a wonderful resource for us to use, and is in on the game, although he's also a little bit flaky, and doesn't always have the information we want. Doing our homework on the people Max had dated was exceptionally difficult, and I still feel like we're missing some key details that will make the whole puzzle make sense.

•        Carlos & Joey Hernandez – The B-Team – The two Hispanic brothers who man the Constant Rotation food truck on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so that Max and Frankie get two days off but the truck is still earning. We're going to have to find some way to convince Max to let these two take more shifts on the truck so that we get more time with him, but Jacinda's got a few thoughts on that, and some of the girls in the game have already coopted one day of the truck's schedule, so maybe it won't be as big a problem as anticipated.

Mrs. Churchill's Team

•        Mrs. Helen Churchill – The HBIC (Head Bitch In Charge) – Me. 59, short cut white hair, no nonsense business-like attitude. I've been told I resemble Dame Judi Dench, which I take as a compliment. I'm the woman in charge of the Max Brewster Project, contracted by Monty Brand.

•        Jacinda Acosta – The Heir To My Throne – My right hand woman. 29, from Madrid. Black hair, brown eyes, brown skin, could stand to eat a sandwich. Only has about seven months with the team. Stresses out easily. 

•        Maia Brown – PR – 44, former Kentucky television station manager, in charge of social smokescreens and making sure we don't draw any attention to our operations.

•        Lynne Jefferson – Tech – 28, heavy set, African American. Our technical manager, who handles all our cameras and internet connectivity. The newest member to the team, brought on about six months before the start of this project.

•        Carmen Vasquez – Graveyard Shift – 37, our late night set of eyes, the one I trust to watch the camera feed when the rest of us are getting our good night's worth of sleep in.

•        Doctor (Rachel) Williamson – 44, our staff doctor whose entire job it is to keep an eye on Max's health, to make sure he's not being overtaxed or exhausted beyond his capabilities.

•        Danny Garney – The Muscle – 34, ex-Delta Force, chiseled and ridiculously good looking, head of security and Max's personal bodyguard, even if Max doesn't know about it. If there's anyone I'm going to lean on if shit gets out of hand, it's Danny, who's been part of my operations for about three years now, after an injury cut his military career short.

•        Liane Jing – Muscle Adjacent – Danny's girlfriend, 26, 6'6” Asian American, gorgeous and playful, knows what Danny's up to, but doesn't mind being used as cover considering it gives her a front row seat to the madness. Liane's been with Danny long enough that I have her under NDA, and if he does the right thing and puts a ring on it, I may even consider bringing her into the team, since she seems to have good instincts at crisis management.

•        Heather Bickers – Midnight Muscle – 31, ex-Army Ranger. Danny can't be awake all the time, so Heather's doing nightwatch duty for him, as she has on and off for gags we've been running. Heather's smart, capable and an excellent person to serve as Danny's second.

•        Abigal ‘Abby’ Tench – Foe Turned Friend – 27, ex-military, ex-Yancy’s Nancies. Abby used to work for the other side, but Yancy’s a pain in the ass, the money’s better and we’re nicer people, so she ditched working for him to come work for me.

Alfa Group

•        Zoe Hitchens – The Planner – 36, business analyst, light blonde, Nordic, 5'7”, glasses, blue eyes, expensive tastes, the smartest in A group, wants to organize for success, from DC. So far, Zoe's been instrumental in making the group time spent with Max feel natural and organic. I don't think she's after Max for the long haul, but she's definitely invested in making sure the game is a huge success. Might even be a candidate for my team at a later date, post kid or if she doesn't get knocked up. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Dana Weismann – The Socialite – 32, heiress/investor, brunette, 5'9”, had nose job/boob job, brown eyes, doesn't care about the money only wants good DNA for her kid. Is presenting herself as the owner of the Berkeley chapter of the Ironwood Estates sex club, something the girls made up to try and sell Max on the story. She's whip smart and seems to enjoy the challenge the game presents. Definitely not wifey candidate. Attempts: 0.

•        Michelle Stenson – The Joker – 24, pharmaceutical rep, 5'4”, dark blonde, ex college cheerleader, the ultra flirt, mostly just here to get in, have a good time, get knocked up and get out, from Texas. Seems to enjoying the girls' company more than Max's, but definitely wants to get her cut. No chance of going for wifey. Attempts:1, Success: Unknown.

•        Rachel Munroe – The Intellectual – 27, redhead, psychiatrist, 5'2”, wants to keep everyone on the rails, protective of the girls' feelings. Haven't decided if she's going to try and go wifey or not, but is another smart put early in the game, as she's helping sell the story well. Attempts: 0.

•        Kelly Coleman – The Damaged Student Athlete – 21, brunette, native Californian, 5'7”, 120, in phenomenal shape except walks with a slight limp, was a rising up and coming tennis star until an accident injured her too much to ever play again, has a chip on her shoulder and something to prove. Definitely not wifey material, but will be a good touchstone for the younger girls in the game. Took one in the mouth and one in the ass to sell the story, so definitely willing to play the game as needed. Has potential to run long in the game. Attempts: 2, Success: Unknown.

•        Mai Liang – The Banker – 30, investment banker, 5'6”, slender, 2nd gen Chinese American, tired of feeling like a walk on in someone else's story, does NOT intend to keep Max around. She's got a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but I think she's going to be another get in, get knocked up, get out candidate, and won't care about upping the pool after she's gone. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Jenny Westinghouse – The Undercover Cop – 33, strawberry blonde, 5'10”, Oakland detective, keeps strange hours which makes it hard to have a relationship, on 3 months administrative leave following difficult UC assignment, dependable & accomplished liar. I knew Jenny was going to be a key player in our game, but she's taken to it like a fish to water. Might be wifey candidate. Certainly seems like she wants to go for the long game. One to watch closely. Her and Zoe are my current odds on favorites, although it's early. Attempts: 3, Success: Unknown.

•        Cara Bianchi – The Tourist – 25, brunette, 5'11”, business owner, visiting from Rome, wants a non-Italian father, in need of money, doesn't want to ever talk to Max. I was pretty impressed with how Dana and Esme handled Cara's incredibly specific demands, and I'm hoping it took so we can just get her out of here, as she's a massive pain the ass. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Blake Brown – The Party Girl – 19, 6'2”, blonde, Berkeley student, sees this as an opportunity to have a kid early in life, have the day care and her tuition paid for, studying to get into IP law. She's nowhere near mature enough to stick with Max long term, but she'll be a fun dalliance for him to dip his dick into, assuming she doesn't put him off with her flippant attitude or her incessant textspeak. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Esme Santiago – The Team Player – 24, 5'4”, Latina, up from Texas, wants to have a child but dislikes everyone in her small town, intends to go back home after the competition and help her parents run the family business. Doesn't seem like wifey potential, but is working well with Dana to sell the Ironwood Estates story, acting as “manager” of the club. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

Bravo Group

•        Zelda Fujikawa – Doctor Wifey – 34, 2nd gen Japanese immigrant, oncologist on sabbatical from a Miami hospital, wants to stay with Max past the game. Extremely pragmatic and determined. Could be a contender. Attempts: 0.

•        Anya Petrov – The Eye Candy – 25, Russian model, blonde, fit, definitely in it just for the money, literal zero chance of being wifey material. Am a little worried about her being too passive for the game, but I suspect we'll see the competitor come out in her after a few weeks of Max's head not being turned. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        LaTonya Jefferson – The Investor – 27, African American, restaurateur from Chicago, not looking to stick around but wants to amp the game to get as many girls pregnant as possible. I like how this girl thinks, in that she's in it to make sure the prize pool gets as big as possible, and doesn't give a fuck about anyone's feelings along the way. Attempts: 0.

•        Diane Wilson – The Deadender – 26, brunette, diner owner from small Kentucky town, needs the money, wants the kid. She seems nice enough, too passive to be wifey material, but is definitely going to make sure she gets her oven filled with a bun, as she's up to her eyeballs in debt, and the money to take care of the kid stretches a whole lot further in the Rust Belt than it does in the Bay. Could get cutthroat if the rest of the girls don't give her her shot. Attempts: 0.

•        Janet Flowers – The Unrealistic Clockwatcher – 33, nurse from Oklahoma, convinced her clock is ticking despite the fact that she's still got the better part of a decade. Strikes me as overly excitable, and not wifey material, but is definitely not going to throw away her shot. Attempts: 0.

•        Olivia Castle – The Realistic Clockwatcher – 41, TV exec from LA, knows her time is running out and that a viable pregnancy is going to be difficult for her if she waits too much longer. Can't tell if she wants to be wifey contender or not, but she's in TV, and that means she will cut a bitch for getting in her way. Attempts: 0.

•        Song Min-a – The Foreign Starlet – 25, actress from South Korea, wants a baby completely removed from the press of her home country. Nobody knows who she is here, but she's a massive star in her home country. She had to duck the press leaving, but the longer she's in the game, the more attention her presence might bring. We're hoping to keep her presence in the Bay quiet, but it's not something that we can completely control. Doesn't want to be wifey, so won't be, but wants the father of her child to be a non-issue. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Lisseth Rodriguez – The Fugitive – 23, Latina from Arizona, wants a father for her child that her bad ex can't track down. I feel for Lisseth, I really do, and I decided if she gets pregnant, we're going to give her a “signing bonus” to help her relocate after the game, to get away from a  particularly vindictive ex-husband. We'll get her settled somewhere in the Northeast with a new name and a new life, away from that asshole. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Yael Getschmann – The Bohemian – 31, Jewish, artist/sculptor, split between just wanting the kid and wanting to go for the brass ring. Could be wifey material, but also may not be motivated enough for our boy, who seems a bit of a hustler when it comes to work life, whereas Yael's pretty much had everything handed to her on a silver platter. One to watch. Attempts: 0.

•        Charity Morrison – The Kind Soul – 38, blonde, professional caregiver, just doesn't have time to date but wants a kid. I don't know that I've ever met a more aptly named woman. Charity wants a kid, but hasn't got a great social support system for dating, and her work makes meeting new people a giant challenge. No chance at wifey status, but one of the ones I'm personally rooting for to get her fill. Attempts: 0.

Charlie Group

•        Marta Youngquist – The Nutritionist – 33, personal trainer, yogi, cook and dietitian. Blonde, slender, pretty in a kind of naturist way. She's been offering advice on what kinds of food to give to Max to keep his sexual appetite and energy up, as well as to increase his virility, although I don't know how much of that is actual science and how much of it is pseudo mumbo jumbo. No way in hell she makes wifey. Attempts: 0.

•        Brooklynn Travers – The Fallen Older Sister – 36, actress, heiress to nothing, from a somewhat shattered family. Redhead, sporty, talented, a little conniving maybe. She and her sister were the heirs to the Travers fortune. You know, the one that disappeared just a few years ago, when the patriarch died and it was revealed that the family “fortune” was purely paper fiction. She and her sister are earning decent money acting, but they're used to living large, and I suspect the game is just as much about the money as it is the kid. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Guinevere “Gwen” Travers – The Fallen Younger Sister – 33, actress, also an heiress to nothing. Brunette, thin, very pale. If Brooklynn is the populist actress, Gwen's the arthouse rebel. She's also had a long list of disastrous relationships. The two sisters are both interested in having kids out of the spotlight, and so they're doing this for themselves, although I think both have aspirations of turning wifey. Their chances? Not entirely sure. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Keisha Jefferson – The Attorney – 37, lawyer from NYC. African-American, highly accomplished. If there's anyone who read every single line of our NDA, it was Keisha, who's here just to get herself a child without the hassle of having a father who wants to be involved in the child's life. She's going to get in, then get out, but she's also going to make sure the game does well and her paycheck is solid. Attempts: 0.

•        Erika Lu – The Songwriter – 31, professional songwriter from LA. Asian-American, ex-choir girl, ex-cheerleader, cheery and positive as all hell. Erika's been working with lots of very well known performers, and has probably co-written a number of songs you know and love. She's hard to get a read on, so maybe she's going for wifey, maybe not. Attempts: 1. Success: Unknown.

•        Felicita Rodriguez – The Architect – 35, one of the architects from Rodriguez & Sons construction company from Mexico City. Latina, should've been a model. She's got a bit of a chip on her shoulder that her father didn't rename the company to include her when she joined the company. Just wants the anonymity and the money. Not going for the brass ring, I think. Attempts: 0.

•        Nina Hanson – The Stylist – 24, a beautician and hair stylist from Cleveland. Blonde, BBW, charming and personable. Needs the money, wants the kid. Feels mostly like a seatfiller, but might surprise us, considering she's remarkably easy to talk to. Attempts: 0.

•        Angel MacDonald – The Hard Sell – 27, looks much younger. Blonde, slender, dresses to play into her extremely youthful appearance. I think Angel's going to have the hardest time with Max because she just doesn't appear old enough, so she's going to have to very much play into the “no one takes me seriously” angle, rather than the “I'm a cute little Lolita” shtick she's been using with boys her entire life. Attempts: 0.

•        Danielle Fox –  The InstaPersonality – 24, brunette from Dublin. She's a fashion Instagrammer TikTok model, and we had a personal talk with her about how much shit she'd be in for blogging or getting any of this on social media. She's gorgeous and savvy, and is used to looking pretty, but her boyfriend is impotent, and they want a child, so he's given her permission to do this crazy thing while he's uploading prerecorded stuff for the three months while she's away. Attempts: 0.

•        Hana Tanaka – The Shut-In – 28, from Nikko, Japan, two hours north of Tokyo up the mountains. Hana is painfully shy, so I'm hoping she's going to pair up with someone else who can get her into Max's bed. She wants a child, but doesn't want to have to find a husband to do it. Attempts: 0.

Delta Group

•        Sunshine White – The Hippie – 29, “maker” and metalsmith. You know, I've heard about people like Sunshine for years, how they would spend time at Burning Man in tutus and fairy costumes while welding steel onto the side of an old schoolbus, but I always believed that was sort of a myth, until I met Sunshine, who is so that person. Is local, but way too out there to be wifey material. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Aisha Janson – The Comedian – 34, professional stand up comedian from Oakland. She's been a writer and a stand up for the better part of twenty years, and while she's made a great career out of it, she's had some bad run ins with male comics that soured her on long term relationships. She knows not to make material out of this. Attempts: 0.

•        Kayla Denver – The World Traveler – 28, a travel writer/blogger who graduated from college and went on a world tour that she's never really come down from. Is best known for her article on how to travel nonstop on frequent flyer miles for basically nothing. Seems like she's mostly in it for the experience. Attempts: 1.

•        Tisha Brady – The War Photographer – 33, a photojournalist from Jordan who has spent the last decade in every war zone she can find, which has already won her a Pulitzer. She's a little embittered by life, so she's hoping bringing a life into the world will shock her out of her ennui. Will be a little heavy for Max, but will be a good contrast. Attempts: 0.

•        Aiko Cabrera – The Small Town Peruvian – 26, works at a roadside motel in Huaraz, Peru as both desk clerk and maid. She's never been out of Peru before now, although her English is excellent. She's mostly here to see the world, and get outside of her little comfort zone. She's not in it for the long haul, but definitely wants a kid. Attempts: 0.

•        Delphine Trudeau – The Fashionista – 25, an up and coming fashion designer from Paris, she's so heavily immersed in the fashion world that she doesn't see many other ways to meet a man outside of that world. I'm mostly intrigued to see how high fashion runs into... Max. But she's French, so I'm sure she'll make it work. Attempts: 0.

•        Daisy May Price – The Deep Fried Southerner – 22, works on her parents' farm in rural Georgia, and wants to have a child but knows her parents would never approve without meeting the man, and they have hated all her boyfriends. Daisy May is loud and boisterous and is going to bring volume to the competition. Let's see if Max knows what hit him. Attempts: 1.

•        Eliza Sims – The War Widow – 25, still trying to recover from the loss of her husband, Nick, who was KIA in Afghanistan last year. Her whole world fell apart, and she's still sort of grasping at straws, but feels like being a mother will be the first step on her road to recovery. Attempts: 0.

•        Rose Whitcombe – The Athlete's Daughter – 20, from England, daughter of professional soccer legend Max Whitcombe. Rose has been trying to find a place for herself, competing in international dressage competitions, but right now, she's mostly just eager to do something to rile her father up. Something of a firecracker. Attempts: 0.

•        Ali O'Halloran – The Mountie – 29, from far northern Canada, Ali's been working for Canadian law enforcement since she was old enough to be admitted, but the job hasn't left her room for starting a family. Very friendly and approachable, and hopefully won't get shoved out of space for Max's attention. Attempts: 1.

Echo Group

·       Annabeth Winslow – The Nuclear Physicist/Comedian – 33, Annabeth got her doctorate in nuclear physics, but after a couple of years in research, she gave it up to become a stand-up comedian. She’s witty and observant, but at this point, her money’s running tight. Attempts: 0.

·       Svetlana Miersk – The Gangster – 28, the daughter of now-dead Russian crime boss Oli Miersk, Svetlana has taken over the family business. Despite being told repeatedly that if she’s arrested the payments would stop and that having a child would be a liability in her line of work, she’s adamant that she wants to take part in the game. So I figure, either way, Max makes out for the best. Attempts: 1.

·       Deepika Bashir – The Researcher – 36, Deepika immigrated from India at the age of 16 and has been struggling to find her place to fit in since she arrived in the States. She’s a researcher focusing on human behavior, and specializes in both the flaws and working aspects of neurolinguistic programming, namely how words can get the brain to take certain pathways on its own. She’s whipsmart, although she can be a bit shy at first, so we’ll see how she mingles with the crowd of players. Attempts: 0.

·       Bianca Browne – The Mogul’s Daughter – 22, Bianca’s father is Blake Browne, who owns the Browne Bread Brewery, one of the most popular upstart beer companies of the last fifty years. She’s been living in a very insulated world, and is using all of this to get herself a degree of freedom from dear old dad. She’s drop-dead stunning, but isn’t used to having to work for anything, so I expect her to have some learning to do before she gets her head deep into the running for the game. Attempts: 0.

·       Tanya Blue – The Retired Porn Star – 38. You would think a former porn star would have no trouble finding somebody to knock her up, but if you believe Tanya, most of the men in the industry are either complete assholes or had vasectomies before they even shot their first scene. Tanya retired about four years ago, and has since gone on to become a writer and a C-list actress, but she wants a kid and she wants it with somebody nobody knows. Attempts: 0.

·       Madison Belledin – The Touring Musician – 31, I think Madison has spent most of her life in motion and without a home. Her parents were musicians who drifted from band to band, from tour to tour, and so Madison’s never really stayed in one place for long, or had much of a home. When she was old enough, she followed in their footsteps and began playing whatever was needed for whatever band was hiring. Doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for love. Attempts: 2.

·       Evelyn Staples – The Mortician – 25, Evelyn doesn’t spend a lot of time around the living, so she’s not exactly the best at conversation, but she wants a baby and likes the idea of the kid being funded by someone who’s just going to keep his nose out of her business. Attempts: 0.

·       Jaybird Nielsen – The Flight Attendant – 38, Jay travels about a million and a half miles every year and has done so for the last couple of decades as a flight attendant traveling internationally constantly. The pay is good and she enjoys being loads of places, but wants to take a couple of years off to have a child. That’s why she’s here. Unlikely to stick around, but her interpersonal skills make her an easy check in the win column. Attempts: 0.

·       Gail Hopeless – The Farmer – 24, Gail’s from the middle of nowhere, somewhere in central Australia, and is completely away from her home and comfort zone, but wants to have an adventure while she’s still young, and all this is meant to be that. Attempts: 0.

·       Jordan Tanbar – The ‘Influencer’ – 19, It’s funny how utterly confident this girl is despite not having any real basis for her confidence. She claims to be an ‘influencer,’ but she hasn’t got a lot of followers and doesn’t really influence anything. But I think she’s hoping that having a child will help her break into finding an audience. I have my doubts she’s going to be able to lure Max in, but she’s got such faith in herself that it’s going to be fun to watch if nothing else. Attempts: 0.   

Foxtrot Group

·       Nina Legetti – The Repeat Widow – 29, What a rough beat this lady’s had. She married her childhood sweetheart at 19 and lost him to cancer at 22. She thought she was done for but at 25 she started her second act only for him to be taken from her by a drunk driver. Both times, they’d been just starting to think about trying for a child, and she was heartbroken. Now, she’s approaching 30 and she doesn’t want to have a third husband, but she wants a child to fill that void in her life. She’s a veterinarian from Kentucky, and I’m certain she doesn’t want our boy for the long run. Attempts: 0.

·       Harper Ryan – The Former Soldier – 26, From one extreme to the other. Harper is an ex-Marine who lost one of her legs in the Afghan conflict and although she recovered and learned to walk on her artificial leg very easily, I don’t know that she’s ever really regained her footing. Since she’s gotten back, she’s been bouncing around a lot, trying to find her way. But I like the idea of a woman who specialized in demolitions and demolitions disposal showing our boy a bit of attention that he won’t see coming. Attempts: 0.

·       Amber Nguyen – The Retired Movie Star – 38, After leaving the spotlight a few years ago, Amber decided she was retiring from acting to move into directing. She complained about how the casting directors had stopped looking at her now that she wasn’t as young and pretty as she was during her glory days, but having a child has always been on her agenda, and having the money to soften that made it even more appealing. The woman still oozes sex appeal, though, and that should carry her far. Attempts: 0.

·       Dani McFadden – The Precious Stones Magnate – 26, She doesn’t want a man, just an heir. She’s the last in a line herself, her father having died in a mining accident about a year and a half ago. The man’s trophy wife was left a stipend, but Dani, his only child, inherited basically everything, so she doesn’t care about the money in any sense other than she doesn’t want her money to figure into it. Max doesn’t know she’s made of money, and even if he did, he wouldn’t care. So I think they’ll both walk away happy from this one. Attempts: 1.

·       Stephanie Walker – The Bounty Hunter – 31, I love this for the game. Stephanie Walker comes from a long family line of bounty hunters and bail skip tracers. She’s used to getting what she wants when she wants it, and she does not take no for an answer. She’s ripped, she’s forceful and she’s used to putting the moves on her target. She’s not just a ripple in the pond, she’s a giant boulder. Attempts: 1.

·       Megan Hitch – The Haughty Heiress – 24, This is a woman who knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want. She and the magnate will get along like houses on fire, but everyone else? Talk about culture clash. She’s used to having to navigate the cutthroat world of upper society, and she’s used to getting deferential treatment from everyone, so this is going to be rough. She’s going to have to find a way to take what she wants from someone unlikely to be interested in giving it to her. Her attitude’s going to be a challenge. Attempts: 0.

·       Ashley Mansell – The Underwear Model – 21, It’s amazing how poor social skills a woman this beautiful has. She’s been part of pageants and beauty contests since she was a child, so she’s great at putting on a false front and convincing people that she’s capable of anything. But, shockingly, she’s basically a virgin, having had sex twice in her whole life. She wants to have a child as a sort of chance to do something for herself, to fulfill a personal goal. But she may have trouble talking her way into Max’s bed, if her looks can’t carry her all the way there. Attempts: 0.

·       Abi Winters – The Dental Assistant – 29, This girl is absolutely tired of the social situation in her small town, but she doesn’t want to leave and she does want a child. I think it’s something about staring down 30 that makes us women all go a little stir crazy, and while she loves her home, she still wants to be a mother. Attempts: 0.

·       Kristen Cruz – The Sex Ed Teacher – 26, I can’t deny the irony and hilarity of this. She’s a Midwestern sex ed teacher (although she also teaches French and history – small town high schools, it’s the sort of thing where a person wears a lot of hats), lovely girl, but like so many people in our little game, she’s sampled most of the people in her local pool, and none of them are up to snuff. Attempts: 1.

·       Fang Miralles – The Spy – 28, She likes to tell people she’s an administrative assistant, but the woman is clearly an intelligence officer. But her cover is solid and she very much wants a child. We’ve pointed out that he isn’t going to be someone they can get any real advantage from, and she’s stuck to her guns – she just wants a child, but the money’s certainly a nice thing to get as well. She’s from China, but was educated in London, and she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in this game. And how could I turn down a genuine spy? Attempts: 0.

Golf Group

•        Shu Yeoh – The Legacy – 32, Daughter of Gemma Yeoh, one of the Oversight Trio. She’s a smart, talented businesswoman here in the Bay Area, working for one of the better known investment companies, eager to be part of the Game because she wants to be able to brag that she was part of it, considering it the ultimate FOMO. Attempts: 0.

•        Emma Wagner – The Rancher – 27, a young woman from Montana who’s inherited her family’s ranch, but doesn’t have much in the way of romantic prospects, but wants the ability to have a legacy that outlives her, and having a child will go a long way towards that. Attempts: 0.

•        Steph McMayer – The Van Girl – 29, the girl has been a musician playing coffee houses up and down the West Coast, trying to get ‘discovered,’ but so far, can’t even earn enough to make first/last month’s rent to cover renting out a place. But she sees this as an opportunity to get her life back on track. Attempts: 0.

•        Sally Golden – The Ex-Escort – 33, from the Las Vegas area, Sally was a legal sex worker in the state of Nevada from the age of 18 until she turned 30. From then on, she’s tried to have relationships, but her past keeps catching up with her. She’ll fit in fine with this crowd. Attempts: 1.

•        Bea Flavio – The Smuggler – 39, I’ve actually worked with Bea before. She’s good at what she does, but she’s also lived a very lonely life, and so when all is said and done, she’s just after the same thing as every other girl, the baby and the money. Attempts: 0.

•        Joan Serge – The Art Appraiser – 34, It’s surprising how bad the rich and powerful are about getting knocked up. Several years being one of the most well-known art dealers in Manhattan and she can’t find some pretentious artist to plug her good. Oh well, her loss is our gain. Attempts: 0.

•        Gina Beltzer – The Chef – 26, It’s obvious that she and Max will get along in terms of discussing food, but once you get past that, the two couldn’t be more different. Gina’s classically trained; Max isn’t. Gina grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth; Max didn’t. It’ll be fun watching her trying to push against her own nature with him. Attempts: 0.

•        Noa Rafelli – The F1 Racer – 24, The Israeli born superstar of the racing scene doesn’t want anyone to know her husband is incapable of giving her children, so he’s given her permission to use Max as a surrogate, and possibly win them enough money to ensure the child’s permanently taken care of. She’s a stunner. She’ll get what she wants. Attempts: 0.

•        Kaila Spender – The DJ – 22, From Ibiza to the hottest dance clubs in London, Kaila’s been getting around and making a name for herself, but it’s lonely constantly travelling, and she hasn’t been able to hold down much of a relationship because of that. Attempts: 0.

•        Reiko Mitsosuke – The Salarywoman – 26, She’s had a mostly fulfilling life in Tokyo, but now she wants a child, and she doesn’t want the hassle of having to date and find someone suitable, so she’s looking at us, and Max, to fill that need. Attempts: 0.

Hotel Group

India Group

•        Grace Grimaldi – Sixth in line to the monarchy of Monaco.

Juliett Group

•        Isabella – The Apocalypse – God help us when she arrives... Perhaps the most unpredictable and dangerous player in the game.

•        Adette Schwartz – The Late Addition – Deiter's granddaughter, an entry to the game after it's already started, something I wouldn't normally do, but saying no to Dieter would make things a whole hell of a lot more complicated. Dieter's not to be trusted so who the hell knows what this girl's real agenda is. 

Other figures of note

•        Christine DeSilva – The Reporter – Hopefully tamed. For now.

•        Aldus Finley – The Opportunist – One of the people looking to make a little side money from any opportunity he could find with the Brand Game.